


Much Ado About Lotor

by bob_eclipsa_smith



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Sorry it's so long, keith really hates lotor, minor kallura, one sided lotorllura, origin, read it bois
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-05 19:30:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bob_eclipsa_smith/pseuds/bob_eclipsa_smith
Summary: "I am so sorry for what I have done, Allura. I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your help. Please, Sparky. Please allow me to join you.”





	Much Ado About Lotor

She doesn't quite understand why everyone has acted so surprised until she sees Keith zoom headlong into the Naxzela particle barrier like a deranged lunatic, until the particle barrier and bomb are each rendered completely and totally useless by a jet of purple light and of course, when the frustratingly familiar silken voice comes over the intercom.

“Attention, paladins of Voltron and rebel fighters,” the Galran prince drawls out deliberately. “I know we've had our differences in the past, but I think it is time we had a discussion."

* * *

 

( _The first time she lays eyes upon him, Allura is five deca-phoebs old and Lotor is seven._

_The Great King Alfor, his wife Diana and little Allura had gone for a visit to the planet Daibazaal in order to spend some quality time with Zarkon’s family._

_Apparently, or so he told Allura: Zarkon and Honerva had a son._

_And being the sort of father that spoiled his daughter to the point of near exhaustion, hoping that she would someday have all the happiness in the known universe, Alfor wanted Allura to meet this boy._

_Allura, of course, wasn't particularly interested._

_And this is how Allura finds herself aimlessly wandering the small kingdom of Daibazaal, for as a princess of five deca-pheobs, she is certainly capable to venture out on her own. She has grown tired of her father and her mother's ceaseless hovering, and their oddball of an advisor Coran._

_Being a princess of five, Allura knows how to keep herself hidden. And so she has donned a simple black cloak that conceals her from head to toe clad with a hood that hides her tumbling silver curls from view, and she has taken a pair of her plainest black shoes from her closet._

_It is rather exhausting trying to appear presentable these days, especially for a child of five, so this change is a welcome one. Princessing is hard work, after all._

_Heck, all Allura wanted to do was be free for one simple day. And she was well versed in reading, had some experience with self-defense, and a thirst for curious ventures that did not involve Daddy and his best friend trying to out drink each other._

_Allura rolls her eyes at the mere thought._

_Stupid._

_So immersed in her own thoughts is she that she doesn't even see the obstacle she wanders into._

_She unceremoniously and clumsily falls to the floor when she ricochetes off of a hard chest. All Allura can utter as a startled “oomph” as she clatters to the floor in a collapsed heap of silver and black._

_A strangled gasp comes from above her, and Allura feels painfully vulnerable as all traces of anonymity are stripped away from her with her hood, and her silver hair comes tumbling into view._

_The man who has ripped her hood off of her head gives no acknowledgement of his wrongdoings, his piggy eyes widening in obvious recognition and an almost grotesque awe._

_A dirtied hand reaches out and touches the amethyst earrings dangling from Allura’s ear. She instinctively flinches away in apprehension and barely contained revulsion. Her heart is thrumming a million miles a dobosh, and the fragile resolve that Allura had once held is suddenly diminished to mere nothingness at this strange man’s touch._

_“What pretty earrings,” he mutters to himself. “You must be a lucky girl.” Black eyes flick up to meet crystal blue, and her heart rate accelerates. His repulsive smell reaches her nose and it is all she can do not to gag, holding her breath instead to repel the stench._

Do not show fear, Allura. Do not show fear.

_He smiles down at her, as though he can smell her very prominent fright._

_And with one swift yank, he's pulled the earrings from her ears, not damaging anything, but still eliciting a yowl to escape from the startled princess. The pounding footsteps of the man as he runs away mingle with his triumphant cackles. Both of which are fading as he gets farther and farther away._

_Anger, red hot and blinding, shoots through the young princess._

_“My father gave me those, you filthy pig!” She calls after him, starting in a sprint in the direction he's gone._

_She's startled to hear his cackles turn to shocked screams and a startled plea, and Allura comes to a halt when she spots two figures amidst the startled crowd. The knealing figure being the thief who had stolen her earrings._

_The other… well…_

_He was purple._

_And he was smirking._

_He also held her earrings dangling in his grip, and a sword in the other hand._

_Allura stalks up to the boy with the triumphant grin, and snatches the earrings from his grasp, casting him a grateful glance interspersed within an angry glare._

_“You're welcome,” he tells her. “You looked like you needed some help.”_

_Allura holds the earrings protectively to her chest, somehow unnerved by this strange purple boy that resembled both an Altean and a Galran. “I didn't need your help.” She tells him sternly. “I was perfectly fine on my own.”_

_He snorts. “Yes it very much seemed that way,” he says to her before recognition dawns and his eyes flash in genuine intrigue. “You're Alfor’s daughter, aren't you.” It's not a question he asks, but a genuine statement._

_“What's it to you?” Allura demands suspiciously._

_The purple boy, unaffected by her attempted snark, merely smirks in response. “Quite the sparky personality you have, don't you?” He laughingly mutters to himself. “Nice to meet you, Princess Allura. I'm Lotor. Son of Emperor Zarkon and Empress Honerva.”_

_After a few ticks of blatant staring, Allura accepts his extended hand with suspicion, but gives it a polite shake nonetheless.)_

* * *

 

  
They escort him back to the castle, the lions surrounding his ship to ensure he wouldn't try anything stupid. Allura follows numbly behind Pidge, trying oh so hard not to cast pain filled glances towards the ship and its single inhabitant. It's all she can do not to shoot a jet of ice at the engine, ultimately rendering his ship useless.

When they land in their respective hangars, Allura walks briskly away from them, allowing Shiro, Hunk, Lance and Pidge’s outraged shouts to fade away with her untimely departure.

She regrets her decision as soon as she's out.

What kind of a leader abandons her paladins with a potentially dangerous person in the castle?

Not Allura. Not anymore.

And so, with a single strangled sigh, and a heart pounding out of her chest, she returns to face him, preparing herself all the way there through mutterings and brisk strides.

Until she sees _him_.

The one she had forgotten all about until he had appeared sheepishly in her vision.

Her heart drops at the sight of him, the image of his Galra ship moving rapidly towards the particle barrier coming to the forefront of her mind.

He attempted suicide! That self-sacrificing _idiot_!

 _Keith_.

And at the sight of him, the anger at his impulsive decision contorts into uninhibited relief at seeing him alive.

“ _Keith_!” She screams, throwing her arms around his shoulders both as an attempt to comfort herself and as a technique to keep him firmly at her side. “Oh thank God you're alright! What in Alfor’s name were you thinking?”

He shakes his head, eyes regarding her as if he had never before seen her. “I...I don't know.” He told her, wrapping his arms tentatively around her in return. “I just acted on impulse, but Lotor…Lotor… he saved me…”

The other man’s image comes to mind with startling clarity, and her heart stops beating. She stiffens, and Keith tightens his grip on her worriedly.

“Allura?”

Her lips purse into a scowl. Keith pulls away to look at her, his eyes flashing with tentative concern.

“Allura...do you...know something about Lotor?

“...”

“Allura?"

“I have to go.” She tells him quietly, distractedly before shoving him off of her absentmindedly and sprinting to the black lion’s hangar where the prince had been taken.

* * *

 

  
( _When she is ten deca-pheobs old, and he is twelve, Allura considers him a dear friend of hers._

_“Blah, blah, blah leadership. Blah, blah, blah, queendom.” Allura drones, half-heartedly tossing a ball at the domed ceiling only for it to fall again into her awaiting hands. She throws it up again, catching it again. “It's all very bothersome, don't you agree, Lotor?”_

_When her companion doesn't respond, she turns to face him, nudging him slightly when she sees he's asleep, eyelids fluttering lightly and face slack._

_“Hey, idiot,” she hisses in his pointed ear. “Actually_ listen _while I vent to you next time, alright?”_

_He stirs when she speaks to him, muttering incoherencies to himself and to her. “I was listening to you,” he tells her. “I heard you, Allura."_

_“Did you?” she chides him lightly. “What was I saying then, hm?”_

_He stuffs his face back into one of Allura’s floofy pillows. “I dunno,” he mutters nearly incoherently. “Was it something about universal peace, Sparky?”_

_She sighs at the pointless nickname and guileless response. “Afraid not, Lotor. Try again.”_

_He lifts his head, smirking at her._

_“Universal domination?”_

_“Wrong.”_

_“Cookies.”_

_“No.”_

_“Sparkly jewelry?”_

_“_ No _.”_

_“How good my butt looks in these pants?”_

_He's silenced by a pillow that comes hurling at him, hitting him square in his smug little face. He descends into laughter as Allura hits him again._

_“Idiot, idiot,_ idiot _.” She accuses with each blow. “No. I was talking about becoming queen someday.”_

_Lotor frowns. “Oh.” He says. “Well that's not nearly as fun.”_

_She hits him again. “I'm serious!” She cries, small giggles escaping her. “I don't_ want _to be queen, Lotor! Can you picture me ruling Altea?”_

_He tilts his head thoughtfully. “Well not right now, no. But when you're older, sure.” He shoots her a lopsided grin, and wiggles his eyebrows in that ridiculous way of his. “Hey, can you see me ruling the Galra empire some day?”_

_Her response is immediate. “Absolutely_ not _. You'd make a horrendous emperor.”_

 _His mock hurt expression is enough to make Allura hit him again._ )

* * *

 

“Where is Lotor, Shiro?” Allura asks in practiced dispassion, folding her arms protectively across her chest.

He looks startled at her appearance, but quickly recovers, portraying the strong, undeterrable Shiro she had always known. “Lance and Hunk took him into the interrogation room. Coran wanted to speak with him, and then I wanted to have a few words with him.”

“Has he said anything yet?”

“Not a thing.” Footsteps and the familiar low timbre of his voice prompt Allura and Shiro to look to where Keith had just entered, face solemn and eyes irritated. He takes place besides Shiro, resting a familial hand on his shoulder. His eyes regard Allura with an equal concoction of concern and suspicion. Fondness and irritation. Allura feels a sharp stab of pain, and she averts his piercing gaze.

“He hasn't said anything?” Allura echoes dryly. “Anything at all?”

Keith’s lips pull into a straight line, and she raises her head to meet his unyielding gaze once more.

“Well, he did say one thing.” His eyes bore into hers, burning into her very soul. “He told me he will only speak to Sparky.”

Allura's heart sinks.

* * *

 

  
( _At fifteen deca-phoebs and seventeen, Allura and Lotor are pulled abruptly into the cruel world._

_She finds him upon the castle roof, his back to her and his shoulder length white hair flowing gently in the slight breeze._

_Lotor gives no indication of acknowledging Allura’s sudden presence, but when she comes to stand beside him, his violet colored eyes soften._

_“Are you alright?” She asks him gently. “You don't seem to be.”_

_Lotor scoffs without looking at her. “Am I alright?” he repeats incredulously. “No, Allura, I'm not alright. My family is going to hell and it's all because of that damned thing.” A slender purple finger points to the pulsing light of the rift, and a hated scowl spreads across his face, marring his handsome features. His eyes flash as they turn to look at his long time friend. “So no, Allura. My life very much sucks, thanks ever so much.” He plops to the floor, placing his head in his hands._

_Lotor's still as a statue, as if employing the petulant notion that if he remained as still as one, that he would one day become one._

_Allura heaves a sigh and sits down besides him, placing a gentle hand upon his back. “I’m so sorry,” she tells him softly. “I wish there was something I could do.”_

_He lifts his head, meeting her gentle crystal blue gaze. “There isn't, Sparky,” he replies in a monotone. “Trust me. They're too far gone.”_

_The images of Honerva, sickly, pale and withered, rise to her mind without her permission, and Allura shudders involuntarily. “That's not true.” She tells him halfheartedly._

_Lotor scoffs, seeing through her as easily as transparent glass. “As much as I appreciate the effort, Sparky, it's not working on me. They're slowly but surely going insane.”_

_“It's not your fault.” She says immediately._

_“Sure it isn't, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.” Lotor places his cheek in his hands. “Why me? Why is this happening to me, Allura? I don't understand.”_

_The hand on his back begins to trace idle patterns on his back, and pulls him into her chest. At the slightest bit of contact, Lotor begins to cry, all the pain, all the frustration, all the uncanny fright that had been brewing unbidden inside of him, suddenly unleashed onto Allura._

_"Why, Allura? What's happening?”_

_She doesn't have an answer for him. All Allura could offer him was a shoulder to cry on, a comforting presence and her voice whispering “I don't know. I really don't know.” over and over and over until he finally falls asleep in her arms._ )

* * *

 

  
“You don't have to do this, Allura. I can get something out of him if I just hit in the right spot.”

Allura whirls on Keith, pausing her unintentionally brisk walk to Lotor. “As much as I would like you to harm him, Keith, I do not think that would be the greatest idea.”

He crosses his arms. “Why?”

Allura glares defiantly back. “Because if he truly wants to repent, and join the coalition, then you attacking him would not really help the situation, now would it?

Keith glowers at her, but offers no retort.

“That's what I thought.” She said with a touch of victory before returning to her quickened walking speed.

“Wait, Allura.” A hand on her shoulder keeps her from making any more progress in her venture, and she once again turns around to face Keith, whose eyes gleam with an untold burden and uncanny fear.

Her eyes soften, and she gently removes his hand from her shoulder. “Yes?”

His eyes flick up to meet hers, only partially concealed by dark lashes. “I don't trust him,” Keith growls. “Let me interrogate him again.”

Allura shakes her head sadly. “He asked for me.”

Keith scoffs knowingly, a flash of something akin to outrage appearing in his eyes. “ _Sparky_ ,” He spits, the thin thread of patience finally breaking. “I’m gonna kill him.”

Allura's heart stops, and she inhibits the seethingly furious Keith in his tracks with two hands on his chest. The swirling portals of insidious black that had been his eyes still in confusion, only hardening again when he sees what Allura had done.

“Allura,” he says with barely contained fury. “Let me go.”

She shakes her head. “No. I cannot allow your hatred for Lotor blind you to a possible ally.”

He opens his mouth to object. She silences him with a hand.

“I understand you're upset by what he did on Naxzela, but you have to trust me on this.”

Keith's lips pull into a furious line. “I trust you,” he growls. “It's him I don't trust.”

“If you trust me, then trust me enough to let me do this.”

“No.”

“Keith, please. For Voltron.”

“I'm coming in with you.”

She shakes her head. “I have to do this on my own.”

“Like hell.” He snarls impetuously.

Allura sighs at his stubbornness. “You can wait outside if you'd like to.”

“Not good enough.”

“Keith, please. You have to let me speak to him.”

Keith chortles a mirthless laugh, his eyes pure ire and blackened obsidian. “Not alone you're not.”

“I can take care of myself.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “I've seen him fight. He’ll destroy you.”

Allura scoffs, and turns on her heel. “I'm the one well acquainted with the Galra.” She tells him amidst her angered strides. “ _I_ should be the one interrogating him.” Well, that's not entirely a lie, she thinks as she pictures the Lotor from her childhood, crooked smile and sparkling eyes filled with copious amounts of boyish mirth.

“I _am_ Galra. Either I'm coming with you or I'm interrogating him myself.” Keith growls brusquely, his long stride easily keeping up with Allura’s swift pace.

“ _Ugh_!” Allura cries in frustration. “You are so _infuriating_. Fine. We will speak to him together.” A mahogany finger jabs him sternly in his rock hard chest, much to Keith's slight amusement. “But just so you know,” Allura tells him. “If you let your hatred for Lotor cloud your better judgement, I personally will throw you out. Understand?”

Keith frowns, eyes narrowing. But his head dips in a slight nod, violet flecked eyes peering up at her in silently brimming outrage and just the slightest bit of uncanny worry. He truly believed that Lotor planned on causing her harm.

Her eyes soften, and her hand slips from his chest. “Good.”

* * *

 

( _At seventeen deca-phoebs and nineteen, all goes to bitter hell._

_Honerva is dying._

_Lotor knows inexplicably, and Allura knows too._

_They hide behind the corner, listening to her agonized moans and painful screeches as she fights the unbeatable foe that is Death himself. Every sob is a dagger into Lotor’s heart, every whimper is a gunshot. Somehow, Allura’s hand has found its way to his, entwining their fingers together in a pitiful attempt to comfort her dearest friend._

_They stay there for what seems to be vargas, Lotor not wanting to leave his mother alone, even though Zarkon had outwardly told him not to step within a hundred feet of Honerva’s room, and Allura is unwilling to leave her friend to grieve alone._

_The sobs cease, the whimpers quiet, and the screams end._

_But somehow, the silence that follows is even more deafening._

_Allura coaxes a numb Lotor from the ground, easing him up and supporting his dead weight under her arm as they move together to his room. She whispers to him comfortingly, for no one should have to lose a mother so young, and she better than all people knows him. Knows his insecurities, knows of his falsified confidence and of his overwhelming fear of being abandoned._

_She sets him down gently on the bed, curling up against him in an unspoken reminder that he is under no circumstances alone. Crystalline tears drip silently into the soft confines of her silken hair, and strong arms come around her, securing Allura tightly against him._

_Together they remain, Allura ensconced firmly against her best friend._

_Occasionally, a purple hand would come up to stroke her hair, or a soft kiss would be pressed against her head. But Allura doesn't mind. He is grieving, and she is practically the only one he has left._

_Zarkon doesn't come to deliver the news, perhaps inexplicably understanding that Lotor already knows of Honerva’s untimely demise. So Allura stays with him for untold amounts of time, helping him to cope in the only way Lotor will truly accept._

_Blind touch and her constant presence._

_“Run away with me.”_

_Allura stiffens in his grip._

_“If we get out of here, you don't ever have to be Queen of Altea and I will never have to be the Galra Emperor. We will be_ free _, Allura._ Free _.”_

_She turns to face him. “What?”_

_“We can_ leave _this place, Sparky. We can go anywhere we wish. No rules, no expectations. Just you and me.”_

_“Lotor—”_

_“I know it's a lot to take in, but it can happen. I know what you want, Allura, and it's not to be a leader. You weren't destined to be a leader. Come with me and you never have to be.”_

_“Lotor, what—?”_

_His violet eyes soften, deft fingers sweeping a piece of silvery hair behind her ear. “I… I want to do this, Allura. There's no place for us here. No place for_ me _here anymore. And if I am to leave, I want you to come with me because…” he averts his gaze momentarily from hers, leaving Allura confused before it returns, hardened and more determined than she had ever seen it. “I love you, Allura.”_

_Allura is rendered speechless for the first time in a long while, and all that she can manage is a startled breathy hitch in reply.)_

* * *

 

Mere quintants later, Allura and Keith meet a tense Shiro by the interrogation room, who offers them a small, forced smile to greet them.

“I thought you wanted to speak to him, Shiro.” Allura inquires inquisitively, uncertain as to why the black paladin was standing stoically outside the door.

The man shrugs his massive shoulders. “I did but he told me the same thing. He wants to speak to you, Allura. And _only_ you.” He says this with a pointed look at Keith, who glowers in response. Shiro raises an eyebrow. “Keith? Any reason as to why you're here?”

Keith looks like he's ready to throw punches, but his untameable anger is reigned in when Shiro addresses him, making Allura instantly cognizant of the pair’s deep companionship. “I don't trust him,” Keith grunts. “She goes in with me or she doesn't go at all.”

Shiro looks at Allura, who dips her head in a solemn nod. “You okay with this, Princess?”

“Yes,” she replies. “Keith can go in with me as long as he doesn't do anything that he will regret.” Allura shoots him a quick glare, as if daring him to contradict his statement, which he doesn't do, instead affirming with a swift nod.

A small, mirthless smile creeps onto Allura’s face as she prepares herself to enter the room to face him and her heart pounds a million miles a minute. “You may go now, Shiro,” Allura breathes, barely even hearing herself over the deafening pounding of her beating heart. “Keith and I can handle this.”

A hand on her shoulder brings her out of her nervous stupor, obsidian eyes interspersed with violet regarding her worriedly. Dazedly, she recognizes Keith, and her heart stills. “Allura,” he breathes. “You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can go instead.”

She shakes him off, eyes hardening. “I appreciate the offer, Keith, but I have to do this. No matter how much I don't want to.”

His eyes soften like tar. “Then I'm going to stay by your side,” he promises. “I won't let him try anything.”

Allura's hand finds his, and entwines her own fingers in his, gripping it tightly in gratefulness for his presence. “Thank you, Keith.”

“You're welcome.”

And perhaps it is her imagination, but she thinks that just maybe, his voice is a bit uneasy as well.

* * *

 

_(At seventeen deca-phoebes and nineteen, Allura breaks her dearest friend’s heart._

_“You—you what?!”_

_Lotor's eyes soften, becoming pools of liquid violet. He suddenly has pulled her all the more closer, until she can feel his warmth, can smell the mintiness of his breath. “I...love you, Sparky. I have for a long time.” The prince averts her gaze. “Perhaps it is simply the right time to tell you now. I have no one left.”_

_“Lotor—” she gasps._

_“Run away with me, Allura.” He says in uncanny determination. “Run away with me, and we can be together. No kingdoms to rule, no rules to follow, nothing but the life we create.” He grips her hand fiercely in his grip. “Please. You are the only one I have left.”_

_Allura's frozen in place, paralyzed by the genuine love she sees lingering in his mesmerizing eyes, startled by the fierce determination in his voice, and genuinely confused by the way she's being held._

_Because, he had always been her best friend._

_And the way he's holding her now is something much more intimate. Lotor, who has never once seen her as delicate or fragile, was holding her as if she were a precious piece of porcelain glass, was looking at her as if she were the only known thing in an otherwise broken world._

_But...he loves her._

_Does she...does she love him?_

_Allura knows the answer deep down. Can feel it deep within her soul, can sense it in the way her body instinctively pushes her away from his, can understand that the mild attraction she feels for him is nothing more than pure companionship_.

_But can she grow to love him in return?_

_Can she bear to leave her people alone and without a successor?  
_

_She knows the answer without needing to speak it.  
_

_And upon that general knowledge, Allura makes her decision._

_“Lotor...I can't do that.”  
_

_His eyes break into a thousand infantile shards of glass at her reply, a tick later shutting completely, like a large iron door closing her off from him forever. “What?”_

_Her heart shatters as his does. “Lotor,” she practically sobs. “I have a duty, and so do you. We cannot allow trivial things to divert our attention towards those duties.”_

_In a split tick, Lotor has pushed Allura off of him, and in a second tick, he's halfway across the room, looking at her as if he's never before seen her._

_As if she's a mere stranger to him._

_“Lotor, please,” Allura pleads brokenly. “You need to see reason. You have to understand that this whim of yours can never fully come to fruition. I cannot abandon Altea.”  
_

_He doesn't look at her. His normally vibrant violet eyes are dull and monotonous. “Do you love me?” He asks in a whisper.  
_

_“What_?”

_Violet flicks up to meet crystal blue. “Do you love me?” He repeats, voice strong and unfamiliar to her ears.  
_

_Tears come to Allura’s eyes. “Please…” she whispers. “_ Please _don't make me…”  
_

_In a whirl he has her pinned against the wall, stealing the breath right from her lungs. Allura can only give a startled gasp as she's overpowered by her best friend. “Allura tell me!” He snarls. “Do. You. Love. Me_?”

_She sobs. “I...I do love you...but not in the way you do… I can never truly love you that way, Lotor…”  
_

_He slams his hands on either side of her head_ , _in uncharacteristic snarled anger_.

_His hair whips around him like a whirlwind as he turns away from her, and storms out of the room, shutting the door with a hard slam.  
_

_Allura sobs brokenly at his departure, sinking down the wall to place her head in her hands and tucking her legs protectively against her chest.  
_

What have I done? My God what have I done?)

* * *

 

She opens the door cautiously, not entirely willing to see him even after all these years. He's sitting in the chair, of course, hands handcuffed to the table, hair still managing to look annoyingly impeccable after all he had endured.

He looks up when Allura and Keith enter, eyes brushing over Keith briefly before landing on her. There's a slight flash of something resembling pain when recognition dawns, before stoicism takes hold once more. He offers her a lopsided grin of their past, but his hardened eyes regard her suspiciously.

Slender purple fingertips drum casually on the table, not managing to entirely conceal the tension from Allura. “Hello, Allura. Still as stunning as ever, I see.”

Allura feels Keith tense besides her, and she silently wills him to calm down, lightly brushing his hand with her fingers as an unspoken way to comfort him.

She takes a seat, watching as Lotor’s eyes follow her. Keith lingers in the back, acting as her furious bodyguard. Lotor regards him with slight intrigue, before his deceptively placid gaze falls back onto Allura. He gestures to where Keith stood. “What's with the bodyguard, Sparky? You know I’d never truly harm you.”

Keith scoffs. “Like hell you won't.”

Recognition passes across the Galran prince’s face and a smirk resembling jealousy spreads upon his lips. “Ah, I know who you are, Paladin. You're the half-breed. How interesting that you're the one who comes to Allura’s defense first. Does she know what you are yet? Don't you know how much she hates your kind?”

“Fuck off, Lotor.” Keith growls. “Fuck _right_ off.”

“Keith—”

But Lotor isn't done. His eyes gleam with malintent. “Do you really think you possibly have a chance to make it into her good graces? Sure she seems to be loving, and compassionate towards all,” he's looking at Allura now. “But in reality, she will only let you down. Who knows?” Lotor throws up his hands in mock inquiry, shooting Keith a malicious smirk. “Perhaps she already has. Wouldn't be the first time someone's let you down, would it, Mr. Kogane?”

And with that, the thin thread of patience that Keith had snaps, his eyes swirling a dark obsidian black—abandonment, and all things regarding the like, are an unfalteringly sensitive point for Keith.

Allura stops him with a hand on his chest. “Keith, _don't_ ,” she tells the infuriated paladin. “He's merely baiting you.” Allura glares at the unassuming Lotor. “How _dare_ you?”

Lotor shrugs in practices nonchalance. “I _did_ want to speak with you alone, Sparky. You and your guard dog don't exactly meet those requirements.”

Allura suddenly feels the sudden need to defend Keith. Her eyes narrow, and her arms tighten around her former red paladin. “This is my castle, Lotor,” she tells him steely. “My rules. Keith stays if he wants to.” Allura’s eyes flick to him in an unspoken query. His eyes harden, and his stubborn jaw sets in fury, but he gives her a brusque nod, and takes a seat besides Allura.

“Now,” Allura begins. “Tell me why you wanted to form an alliance with Voltron. You know full well that we are not big fans of yours.”

His eyes glitter. “Perhaps I just wanted to see you again.” He tells her silkily.

Allura rolls her eyes, feeling Keith tense besides her. _Men, honestly_. “I very much doubt the truth of that statement, Lotor. We may have once been friends, but that time is long over.”

She feels Keith's questioning gaze flick from her to Lotor and then back to her again, but she pays him no mind, internally promising him that she would fill him in later.

Lotor seems placid enough, his eyes regarding the seething Keith with mild intrigue before they rest upon her once more. “Fair enough, Sparky,” he replies. “I come seeking an alliance because I have nowhere left to go. My generals turned on me, my parents exiled me and I am alone in this world. Believe me,” he snarls. “Being here is the very last place I want to be.”

* * *

 

_(At eighteen deca-phoebs and twenty, Allura is betrayed in the worst possible way._

_Screams of her people plague her ears, terrified sobs intermixed with the crushing sounds of Galran weapons._

_Alarmed, Allura turns to her father, who looks as though he's gained a hundred deca-phobes in the past few ticks. Alfor watches as his planet is destroyed. He does nothing as a newly alive Zarkon escapades around the terrain, slaughtering mercilessly and spreading madness wherever he went._

_“Father, we have to help them!” Allura cries. “We cannot just let Altea crumble into dust!”_

_Alfor's eyes flash with pain. Pain at losing a best friend. Pain at losing a planet. Pain of being completely and utterly helpless. This is a pain beyond comprehension._

_This is agony at its finest._

_“No, Allura.” He tells her firmly. “I cannot lose you too. You must stay here.”_

_“What?! Father,_ no _!”_

_He whirls on her. “You must! I will not lose you, Allura.”_

_Allura turns petulantly to the window, heart pounding harder when she catches sight of Zarkon, the glowing eyes of Honerva...and the disturbingly angry glower marring Prince Lotor's handsome features._

_“Diana, stop!” Allura hears Alfor call. “Diana they cannot be reasoned with!”_

_Time, as of now, is rendered useless._

_“_ Diana _!” Alfor booms._

_Allura sees her mother step onto the battle slowly, her silver hair glowing like a beacon of hope, a pillar of peace. She sees Diana’s hands raise in surrender, in an attempt to convey peace of some sort._

_She sees Lotor strike her down in one brutal blow._

_She sees Diana fall._

_She sees Lotor’s eyes flick up, sees his mouth set as his eyes lock inexplicably onto hers._

_And much to her disgust, she sees him smile._

_Allura screams.)_

* * *

 

“I wouldn't be surprised,” Allura tells him in barely concealed anger. “What in Alfor’s name makes you think that you have the right to come here, and beg for my forgiveness, all these years later?”

He suddenly looks very vulnerable, a toddler in a man’s body. “I'm sorry, Allura.” He whispers. “I wish I never had let my anger get the best of me.”

“No,” Allura replies. “I wish so too.”

Keith places a gentle hand on hers under the table, perhaps telling her that even though he doesn't understand a word of their conversation, he is willing to offer her comfort nonetheless. She curls her fingers around his in reply, squeezing them gently.

“You killed my mother, Lotor.” Allura breathes. “That is not so easily forgiven, or forgotten.”

Keith’s grip tightens on hers involuntarily. Lotor's eyes flash in pain. “I understand that, Allura. I understand that very well.”

“Then why have you come here to speak to her?” Keith inquires, voice barely above a growl.

“If I were to come here, and beg for your help, as I am now, young paladin, I would want Allura to hear what I had to say. Not some other person that I have virtually no experience with.”

“You know what you're doing to her, Lotor?! Huh? Have you thought about _that_ at all, you freaking piece of shit?!”

“Keith,” Allura says sternly. “Enough. Listen to what he has to say.”

Lotor's eyes soften. “Thank you for your mercy, Allura. Now, as I was saying, I wanted to aid you in your mission to take down my parents. They, and I, have done horrible things. But I understand now that what they've done is wrong. People deserve freedom, as I once wanted long ago. They never should have dabbled with quintessence, nor should they have taken power so forcefully. I am so sorry for what I have done, Allura. I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your help. Please, Sparky. Please allow me to join you.”

Allura stays silent, and she looks to Keith, who shakes his head, eyeing Lotor with mistrust.

Allura looks to Lotor, seeing for once, her best friend, and not the man who had killed her mother.

_I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your help._

Allura gives him a stern nod, beckons for Keith to follow her, and goes to retrieve the other paladins.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for leaving it at this point, but I wanted to leave it up to you guys to debate the ending. Would Allura cave and allow Lotor to join the coalition? Or would the paladins and Allura send him away?
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


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